Looks like the Rolling Stones plan to keep on rolling well into the next
millennium. On August 18, 1997, they launched their most recent album/tour
package, Bridges to Babylon, with a full production number under New
York City's Brooklyn Bridge. Traffic disappeared and a chopper hovered overhead
as the four oldest teenagers in the world cruised in from Manhattan in a
cherry-red 1955 Caddy convertible, a police escort leading the way.

Not surprisingly, little of substance emerged from the very tokenistic
question-and-answer, as Mick Jagger strived to keep the media happy with
platitudes and easy sound bites. A typical Jagger response? When asked why
they always launch new material in New York, he zapped back: Because
you're the best press in the world, flashing a million-dollar smile.

But while Charlie Watts was daydreaming, and Ronnie Wood looked distracted
by all the hoopla, Keith Richards was on a totally different plane
altogether. Inadvertently, his comments made for the day's best
entertainment. First came Richards' explanation of the meaning of his
trademark skull ring: Beauty is skin-deep, baby, this is what we all
really look like. Then there was his comment as to what inspires his
songwriting: You don't write them, they come to you; you receive, you
transmit.

But the pick of the day was his observation of the musical bond
between time-keeper Charlie Watts and newish Stones bassist Darryl Jones.
It's a bit hydrogen, a bit oxygen..., he offered, disappearing into an
inaudible mumble. Richards, it's also worth noting, was the only Stone not
favoring a suit, a clear nod to his status as the coolest 50-something on
the planet.

Keith: Always the mostrelaxed man in show biz.

Joking aside, the Stones are at odds with the 1990s’ dictum that an album
and tour every five years is plenty. With the dust barely settled from
their Voodoo Lounge extravaganza, Bridges to Babylon hits the road on
September 23rd. And as with the sight-and-sound spectacular which was Voodoo
Lounge,Bridges has forgotten all about the word modest.

With the designer for U2's Pop tour, Mark Fisher, leading the way, Jagger promises
a show just as big, just as wonderful as Voodoo Lounge, but (it) will be
more interesting as far as the music's concerned. We'll be mixing up old
favorites with new songs and some unusual things, and we'll play a mixture
of theaters, clubs and stadiums. You're gonna have to be there.

Expect Stones regulars such as Bobby Keys to join the band on the road, while they've recruited hip acts such as Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins to warm-up North American crowds. When asked how they plan to break in the Bridges tunes while still pumping out the hits, Richards replied, Dunno. Ask me in six weeks, which is when the tour kicks off in Chicago.

Bridges to Babylon was recorded, quickly, in Los Angeles earlier this
year, with Don Was sitting alongside Jagger and Richards as co-executive
producer. An impressive roll-call of session musos, from Waddy Wachtel to
ex-Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, Billy Preston to Jim Keltner and bass-master
Me'Shell Ndegeocello, all chipped in, while several tracks (Anybody Seen My
Baby, Gunface, Saint Of Me) were produced by either Danny Saber or the
very hip Dust Bros (who are responsible for current chartbusters Hanson,
plus Beck and the Beastie Boys). One track recorded with Babyface, however, didn't make the final cut, Jagger feeling it wasn't quite Rolling Stones enough (which is no great surprise, given the Stones like their rock with a fair bit of roll, whereas Babyface is all smooth grooves).

Richards has stated how a lot of it (the album) is experimentation; Jagger admits to
having gone for a few different noises, while the word from their label
Virgin is that it's a very ’90s album spanning the realms of rock, blues,
R&B and electronica. Although no advance copies of Bridges to Babylon
were up for grabs at the time of writing, what I've heard sounds strong and
brassy: Low Down, especially, is drenched in trademark,
testosterone-heavy Stones' riffs, and the lead-off single, Anybody Seen My
Baby is smooth and melodic in a Waiting For A Friend kind of way. To Ron
Wood, Bridges offers plenty of fance  that's funk and dance put
together. Charlie Watts, characteristically, had no comment.

If their differing levels of enthusiasm at the launch were any indication
of who's pulling the Rolling Stones' strings, Jagger is surely the
puppetmaster. Grabbing the mike from the get-go, he bounded into the crowd,
admitting how before he got into rock & roll, I fancied myself as an
investigative reporter.

He then got the jump on the huge press contingent by asking the band: Is this your last tour? Despite the media vibe that the Bridges tour may well be the end of their four decades on the road, the band were noncommittal, Richards facetiously mumbling, yeah, this and the next five. Swan song or not, be assured that while Bridges to Babylon is probably no Let It Bleed, the road show to support the album will
resemble something from another planet. Just like Keith, really.